Former minister of aviation Femi Fani-Kayode has written to the management of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust, demanding N6billion in settlement over a scathing article he referred to as defamatory.
The ex-minister wrote to the managing director of Daily Trust in a letter dated August 31 through his lawyer Adeola Adesipe.
The letter was in response to an article titled, ‘FFK, the Drug Addled Thug in Designer Wears’ published on August 30 and written by Iliyasu Gadu.
The writer knocked Mr Fani-Kayode for verbally assaulting the newspaper’s reporter Eyo Charles during a press conference in Calabar, Cross River State.
The writer also claimed Fani-Kayode, who attended Cambridge University, was once “a drug addict” and had sought rehabilitation in Ghana, but “till today has not been cured of the habit.”
Fani-Kayode in the letter demanded an apology from the newspaper which must be published in other national dailies. He also gave the paper 14 days to comply or face legal action.
“Be aware that our client has not only suffered immeasurable loss of goodwill, he is currently confronted with unbearable opprobrium by his fans, followers and colleagues across the globe,” the letter read.
“Our client is alive to his rights both in law and equity but is disposed to an opportunity to undo the evil you have done by retracting the said insalubrious remarks on the same platform it was published and apologising to him in two other national dailies.
“You are also advised to enter into negotiations with us for the sum of N6bn being a token amount for penitence as opposed to the magnitude of infraction caused to our client’s nobility.”
The ex-minister also wrote a similar letter to the author of the article.
